The people vs. Kellogg’s

In 2012, the company, alongside the Grocery Manufacturers of America, Monsanto, Kraft, and a handful of obvious others raised a combined $46 million to lobby against a California ballot initiative that would have required the labelling of all GMO food products.

In 2013, Vermont successfully passed a state law requiring the same – a law that was immediately challenged by industry groups.

Then, in 2015, they took the fight to Congress, attempting to sneak language which forbade mandatory GMO labelling into a must-pass omnibus spending bill. Legislation that would have struck down state laws in Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine in favor of a “voluntary labelling” system which would have gleefully codified corporate dishonesty.

“How much does nourishment weigh?” they once asked us. “With just a spoon, forefinger, and some Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, you can discover for yourself.”

So why then is Delicacy With A Wallop working so desperately to keep consumers from discovering anything? Why should a smattering of deeply entrenched corporate interests get to decide how much we know about the food we eat? Obfuscate. Inveigle. Deceive. Send lobbyists to every state house to keep consumers in the dark about the true source of their Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

How much does nourishment weigh? Evidently less than the sum total of letting us make our own judgements.

True, GMO crops have been with us for more than 20 years. Have they yet led to richer flavor? Increased food security? Lower costs? Not so far. But they have led to unintended consequences: Insect toxicity and the decline of monarch butterfly populations. Increased herbicide resistance. Superweeds. Increased allergic response. True, the public backlash against GMO products have cast them in a negative light. But this isn’t about a ban on crops. This isn’t about the end of genetic modification as we know it.

This is about Informed Consent.

“Trust us,” they say. “Would we lie?” All the while stuffing decades of false claims into their pockets.

Mercifully, Congress didn’t bite. But make no mistake: they will try again. They’ll spend, they’ll flail, they’ll fight to deliver the best to you each morning, with the least possible information.

And we need to be ready. We need to act. Right now, today, we need to turn our backs on corporate obfuscation and say Good Morning to something better.

How much does transparency weigh?

— Jesse Donaldson

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